I use `find . | egrep -i foo` to find foo on OS X. ~/Downloads$ find . | egrep -i lisp ./ANSI_Common_Lisp_-_Paul_Graham.pdf ./lisp_in_small_pieces.pdf

I use `find . | egrep -i foo` to find foo on OS X. ~/Downloads$ find . | egrep -i lisp ./ANSI_Common_Lisp_-_Paul_Graham.pdf ./lisp_in_small_pieces.pdf ./onlisp.pdf It works well on an SSD. I also wrote a script called `narrow` which lets you pass in several terms to narrow the results by. ~/Downloads$ find . | narrow self pdf ./An Efficient Implementation of SELF, a Dynamically-Typed Object-Oriented Language Based on Prototypes.pdf ./Optimizing Compiler Technology for SELF, a Dynamically-Typed Object-Oriented Programming Language [10.1.1.87.4221].pdf ~/Downloads$ find . | narrow racket h$ ./racket/collects/raco/main.lch ./racket/collects/setup/main.lch ./racket/include/escheme.h ./racket/include/mzconfig.h ./racket/include/scheme.h ... I know this isn't too helpful of an answer. It isn't responsive to your argument that the GUIs have stagnated. But it's possibly a way to get what you want.